Ant-Man Toy Week! Marvel Infinite Series Ant-Man & Ant Review

“The suit has power, and you have to learn how to control it… and these [ants] are your greatest allies.” – Hope Van Dyne, Marvel’s Ant-Man.

I’m not sure exactly what to call this review. I was going to call it a Marvel Universe Ant-Man review, but it’s really Marvel Infinite Series now? Even though the Legends Scale is also called Infinite Series… it’s kinda like Star Wars Black coming in two sizes. I hope that’s somehow useful for toy companies to sell to retailers because it’s just confusing for collectors. Anyway, the other thing is that this particular Ant-Man figure isn’t labeled as Marvel Universe or even Infinite Series.

It’s just “Marvel’s Ant-Man: Ant-Man & Ant”. Regardless of the label on the box, this figure is intended to fit in with the other 4” scale movie-based figures Hasbro has been producing since Iron Man 2. For the most part, I haven’t bought many of those, particularly as the articulation went away, but the great thing about a character like Ant-Man is you can buy him in any scale and he’ll fit right in.

The 4” version is again an all-new sculpt and we can compare to it the Marvel Legend to see it’s another really nice rendition of the suit. The retro feel is still there and well captured with the various costume details. The only real difference on the sculpt is something I failed to mention yesterday: the head sculpt. The 4” version features a more traditional look with the helmet closed rather showing the open mouth. Since we haven’t seen the helmet open the way the Marvel Legend showcases it (though I presume it can), this makes the 4” version the more accurate sculpt between the two.

The 4” figures does fall behind a bit in the paint department though. First, the simple comparison shows some missing paint apps, notably the silver piping on the front and a few other areas on the back of the figure. I understand the smaller scale is a bit harder to get right and there are cost considerations, but I don’t like to see the paint apps missing. Luckily, I don’t think the figure looks worse for it. The costume still looks sharp for what’s there.

There are other paint nitpicks too like the dark grey areas on the helmet and the particularly bright red used for the suit. With those, I’m just surprised that the different design teams at Hasbro don’t work from the same material or to make the colors match. For me, I’m buying this as a companion product to their 6” figure and that would be better served if they matched up. It’s not a dealbreaker, it’d just be nice. Continue to Page 2…

Excellent review. Good to know the degree of all the toy’s faults. Reminiscent of the Empress of Rachnoss figure from Doctor Who. Bloody impressive to look at, but damned if she didn’t break apart at the hips way too easily. And I don’t mean her legs would pop out of sockets, I mean her hips would shatter, and there was nothing you could do to fix it, not even Super-Glue.

yikes. I never got around to grabbing her (of ebay, as with most of my DW and Primeval figs, who came with some great animal and insectoid accessories. and REX! LOL), but that sounds worse than the ToyBiz ML8 Iceman, whose hips would simply fall apart at random times, regardless of whether you were pulling him out of the package, or he’d been sitting quietlyposed on the shelf for six months. I know there were a LOT of complaints about that fig!

Personal thing, the flying ant with these toys creeps me the heck out. I’m not keen on bugs overall and these look too much like giant wasps for my liking. Ants, even tho mostly harmless, scare me a bit. Note I refrain from the phrase ‘bug me’ 🙂

So when I buy this, and I will, that darn ant stays in the box!

*ahem* It’s interesting what you say about the articulation on this figure, because it sounds like it has more (even if still limited and not as good as, say, the Captain America The First Avenger line) than the recent Avengers Age of Ultron (4 inch) figs.

Hm. Does that mean there’s gonna be a 2.5 inch scale Ant-Man line? Or did they cover that with the pack-in accessories of the ML figure? 🙂 Geeze that’s so darn useless. Annoys me no end Hasbro pulled that crap for the Guardians of the Galaxy figures AND Age of Ultron.

It’s a shame to hear about some of the problems. Just curious. Would a silver Sharpie and a steady hand be able to draw that silver piping on the figure? Or is there no sculpted detail there either? Also, would some clear nail polish on the connector joints help the ant to stay together? I know we shouldn’t have to do these kinds of things at all, but personally, I’m willing to put forth a bit of effort to make a good toy into a great one.

Saw the movie at a screening Tuesday night and loved it. This will be a popular toy based on the movie and the relationship between Ant-man and his trusty steed “Ant-thony”. I just wish the ant came with a saddle. This movie reminds me of the first Iron Man = simple story with some fun bits. It could do for ants what Jurassic Park did for dinosaurs.

Loving all the Ant-Man stuff this week! Like you, I would’ve preferred to pick up just the figure, but I like the design too much to hope for a repaint sometime down the line. The ant was originally going to go to my 4-year-old Godson, but the easy-off legs would make it a terrible toy for someone his age. I feel like the figure’s hips provide a great range of motion, even without swivel thighs, certainly better than a lot of the other MU figures I have. I really miss the wrist swivels, though. (BTW, it DOES say Marvel Infinite Series on the box)